Amine oxides are commonly used as cosurfactants to boost and maintain suds formation in laundry, shampoo, and dishwashing detergent compositions. Amine oxides have been used in hard surface cleaners such as acidic toilet bowl cleaners (pH of 2 or less), dishwashing liquids containing occlusive emollients (pH of 4 to 6.9), and selected non-acidic (neutral to alkaline) hard surface cleaners. In non-acidic hard surface cleaners, amine oxide detergent surfactants are essentially non-ionic (pK.sub.a between about 4 and about 6). These nonionic amine oxides provide good cleaning properties and leave little or no visible residue on hard surfaces when they dry.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,935, issued to Kupneski, Jul. 25, 1995, herein incorporated by reference, discloses the use of quaternary ammonium (quats) compounds in alkaline liquid hard surface cleaning compositions.
Alkaline (non-acidic) hard surface cleaners containing amine oxides will often significantly stain or discolor vinyl hard surfaces, such as floor tiles, resulting in a light yellow to dark brown discoloration of the vinyl. Staining will also occur on waxed vinyl surfaces where areas of wax are worn thin or are chipped away so that the amine oxide can come in direct contact with the vinyl.
A mildly acidic hard surface cleaning composition containing an amine oxide surfactant will not stain vinyl surfaces, but it renders the quaternary ammonium disinfectants (quats) ineffective in that the quats lose their ability to disinfect.